Folklore and forgotten truths

Meet three authors shedding new light on ancient wisdom and explore our relationship with the natural world. From fictional retellings to emotional journeys, learn how the mythologies of the British Isles have evolved over the years and how they relate to our lives today.

In Brigid Lowe's The Bloody Branch, we encounter three powerful heroines – slave queen Goewin, the reclusive sorceress Arianrhod, and Blodeuwedd, a woman conjured from flowers – who unite to avenge themselves on the most dangerous man in ancient legend.

Steeped in folklore, mythology, magic and religion, Elizabeth Sulis Kim's The Book of Beasts tells the story of our shapeshifting relationships with animals, from reverence to persecution, friendship to fear, awe to indifference. It asks us what we actually know about the creatures we share this world with – and offers us a different way of living together.

And finally, in No Fair Maidens, Kim Willis…